Hershey Park Ballroom to be re-created for gala

View full sizeTricia Kline, The Patriot-NewsDick and Audrey Mann met in 1950 at what was then known as the Hershey Park Ballroom. They will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary at an event that commemÂ­orates the ballroom.

As an employee of the cleaning crew at Hershey Park in 1950, high school senior Dick Mann didn’t know one evening he would be waxing the ballroom floor that his future wife was about to dance on.

And 17-year-old Audrey, who came with another young man to the concert that night, didn’t know Dick Mann would be the one who would later sweep her off her feet.

Sixty-two years later, the couple, now 80 and 79, will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary during the Hershey Derry Township Historical Society’s 16th annual Preservation Dinner on Sept. 22 at The Hotel Hershey, where a night of big band music will be re-created at the once-highly popular ballroom.

The Manns met at the refreshment stand, where Dick Mann was working.

It stood between the park’s pool and the ballroom. Nearby were the beautiful Sunken Gardens and the flowing fountain by Spring Creek.

The Hershey Park Ballroom was on Park Avenue in Derry Township, close to where Chocolate World is now, directly across from the new Sky Rush and next to the old Hershey Dairy and the old pool. In the 1950s, the name was changed to the Starlight Ballroom.

The Manns remember the fancy lights, the laughter, the dancing and the swing music.

“It was a very nice place to be,” Dick Mann said.

A resident of Akron in Lancaster County, Audrey Mann was visiting the Hershey ballroom for the first time.

“It was a special treat,” she said. “There was a lot of excitement. Everybody was happy.”

The Hershey Park Ballroom was host to the largest names in big band history, including Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Guy Lombardo, Sammy Kaye and Harry James.

View full sizeSubmitted photoThe Hershey Park Ballroom in the mid-1930s.

Many of those who will be attending the Sept. 22 re-creation, she said, have memories of going to the ballroom as young people during the heyday of big band music in the 1940s.

“That’s how they had their recreation,” she said.

Preservation awards are presented by the historical society each year to honor distinguished architecture or cultural heritage in the Derry Twp. area.

“In the past few years, it has grown to a very popular event,” Soliday said.

Last year, 520 people attended the event to celebrate the Hersheypark sports arena, held at the arena itself.

Though the Hershey Park Ballroom is no longer standing — it was torn down in the 1970s when demand grew for larger stadium-type venues — Soliday said it was chosen in order to show residents the importance of re-creating memories.

“We can’t offer it a preservation award,” she said, “but memories are just as important for collective public history. We understand progress happens and buildings disappear,” she added, “but we can pay homage to what once was there. It holds strong memories.”

The event theme will be “Racing With the Moon” in honor of the popular big band song by Vaughn Monroe.

Music will be provided by the Hershey Symphony Orchestra Big Band, playing from a songbook of the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s.

A montage of photos will surround the room, Soliday said, including a 24-foot-long blown-up photo of the ballroom’s bandstand. An image of the Sunken Gardens will be used as a backdrop.

There also will be an electric fountain and an artifact exhibit.

The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 22. It sold out quickly, with more than 300 tickets purchased, ringing in an estimated $17,000 to benefit programs and services of the historical society, which will hold fundraising opportunities throughout the evening, including a silent auction.

More information on the Hershey Derry Township Historical Society is available at www.hersheyhistory.org.